The Big Sky Works-in-Progress Pitch is the headline event of the Big Sky DocShop Filmmaker’s Forum held during the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. This is an exceptional opportunity to pitch your feature length documentary work-in-progress to some of the top funders for documentary film. All documentary forms and subjects are eligible to submit. The session will be held Thursday, February 22nd, 2018 in Missoula, Montana with a live audience of filmmakers, industry representatives, and students. A maximum of 10 projects will be accepted to pitch in this session. Selected projects will have 20 minutes on stage to pitch their project and hear suggestions and critique from the panel of funders. Selected projects will be required to pay an additional $100 to participate (which includes a full access to all DocShop panels and workshops), and will be notified of their acceptance by January 15, 2018.

Projects should be considered independent work in need of additional funding to complete.

Pitch projects should be in late pre-production, production or post-production.

Projects with existing distribution deals are not eligible for submission.

Pitch submissions must include:

A brief (500 words maximum) project summary and synopsis. The summary should concisely describe the focus of the film, the intended length, shooting format, and any other relevant technical details.

A one-paragraph status report, including stage of production, production credits, and any current partners and funding sources and amounts.

Total production budget and secured funding to date.

A brief resume and filmography from the director or producer of the film.

It is recommended that a short (5 minutes maximum) sample reel of the work-in-progress be submitted in addition to the written application. Work-in-progress reels may be submitted online only via Vimeo, Youtube. Do not send DVD screeners as part of your application.